Hi.

I’m thinking of tech refreshing my olde laptope and would like something nice a fast so looking at an i7 chip, 15.6 screen and a 1Tb hard disk. I wondered if anyone had bought anything recently that they would recommend. I want to keep the costs around £600 so my shortlist of 1 is currently this Lenovo Z580:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lenovo-Ideapad-Z580-15-6-laptop/dp/B009RGBD2C/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1371454764&sr=1-1&keywords=i7+laptop

Some advice on an AMD chip that is comparable to this 2.9Ghz i7 would be nice too J

I don't know what graphics card it's got (GT630, GTX670 etc) but I've got an i7 3610QM with 12GB RAM (I had three concurrent VMs running for my BSc dissertation, it's no faster than it was when it I bought it with 6GB) an SSD boot drive and an HDD for storage with 2GB Nvidia graphics (GT650).

I'm sure there are faster machines out there, but for a laptop it's pretty good and it's good enough for my needed. I can play GRID2 in HD (it's got an HD screen) on a mix of high and ultra settings without any issues. Older games like Saints Row 3 play perfectly on full, as does Battlefield 3.

I don't know what sort of use you intend to put it too though, so games might not be a good benchmark (and I don't know what GPU the lenovo has). During my BSc dissertation it was running Windows 8 with 3 Ubunutu VMs on top each of which was running simulations and Windows was still perfectly usable for typing, SPSS and web browsing still.

I strongly suspect that 2.9Ghz referenced is the 'turbo' speed though, I'd expect nearer 2.1Ghz base clock. For the money though it looks good, esp. considering it's got Blu-Ray too which bumps the price up.

What do you use it for? Most users will see a considerate performance boost moving from HDD to SSD rather than having a higher powered chip.

I am not sure if the blu ray player = no DVD/CD writer which would be a pain though I could get a USB one to plug in when needed.

Might do some games but mostly I use the xbox for games. After that its photo & video editing. I wanted to future proof myself a bit too.

GFX is stated as "2Gb Nvidia" so it should be half decent.

Dell outlet.

Bit of pot luck on any day and you need to jump in quick to get the good ones.

Check quidco first sometimes the deals on the new ones can be very good too but faster delivery on the Outlet stuff.

Mine was like new when I got it.

Avoid Lenovo like a rabid and diseased pitbull. Taken from another forum that I frequent:

I purchased a Ideapad u260 at the start of the year. In September it developed a fault, reported it to there support line and was advised that the laptop had to returned for repair. That is fine the warranty was returned to base. Was advised that the turn around from when they received the laptop would be around 5 to 10 days.

After sending the laptop and no contact for two weeks, I called them up. A part was required and was on back order. Was told that they would keep me informed. Surprise surprise they didn't.

I called several times over the next couple of weeks to be told the same thing, awaiting part, well get the admin department to advise you.

Nearly seven weeks of **** poor service, and they still failed to repair the laptop, they sent a replacement instead.

After six weeks I call Lenovo UK to lodge a complaint, only to be told there is no customer service nor complaints department in the UK and that I would have to email it in. I did. And four weeks later I have heard nothing.

My advise is if you are thinking of purchasing a Lenovo, don't. Good products, poor support, and worse customer service.

Despite my formal complaint, sent twice I still have not heard anything. Dell outlet or same with HP, you should be fine on.

Any offers at HP? £600 should buy you a lot.

Check hotukdeals as well for any direct/outlet offers from Dell, HP etc

On the support front - I can't fault Dell. The original motherboard broke and through a series of bad luck I'm now on my 5th MB, but Dell have been faultless in repairing it with a next-day (parts depending) at home service.

I'll have a look at the dell site. I thought Lenovo were a decent brand. I've had acer in the past and they have been very good so I may look for another.

I can't see anything from amd that matches the i7 processors either

Avoid Lenovo like a rabid and diseased pitbull. Taken from another forum that I frequent:

Yada Yada Yada..

Avoid an entire brand because of one bad review? I thought Lenovo were now the worlds biggest PC manufacturer.. must be doing something alright.

That laptop in the OP looks like a bit of a slab though! TBH, i am really out of touch with consumer grade computers.. anything from the Dell Latitude or Optiplex range though and i'm your man :p

AMD are more on a par with Intel in the lower value markets I think - their equivalent laptop range isn't as good as the i7s atm I believe.

Their lower priced APUs are meant to be a processing match for the i3s and offer much better graphics, but that's not your market, so. . .

Thanks guys. THis one looks quite tasty (for an additional cost)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lenovo-Ideapad-Laptop-Black-Graphics-Windows/dp/B00B2HVYRI/ref=pd_cp_computers_0

Bought a Z580 two weeks ago on offer from laptopsdirect. Great machine!

We use Lenovo laptops at work and have had in excess of 500 of them over the last 6 years and can honestly say they have been more reliable than Acer,Asus and Toshiba equivelent models. HP ProBook series is another Id recommend based on what we have out there.

Good luck!

I went for a DELL in the end, if anyone cares presently going thru the pain of moving iTunes from old to new...

if anyone cares presently going thru the pain of moving iTunes from old to new...

I feel your pain! I did the girlfriends a few weeks back, over 3500+ songs!